Israel, Hamas agree to 12-hour Gaza cease-fire

By Elise Labott, CNN

Updated 2:54 AM ET, Sat July 26, 2014

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Photos:Photos: Israel-Gaza crisis

Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians in Gaza celebrate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Tuesday, August 26. After more than seven weeks of heavy fighting, Israel and Hamas agreed to an open-ended ceasefire that puts off dealing with core long-term issues.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians inspect the damage to a residential building following several late night Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on August 26.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Gila, center, mother of 4-year-old Israeli boy Daniel Tragerman, sits next to his grave during his funeral near the Israel-Gaza border on Sunday, August 24.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians run away from debris after a bomb from an Israeli airstrike hit a house in Gaza on Saturday, August 23.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli soldier smokes a cigarette in a large concrete pipe used as shelter at an army deployment point near the Israeli-Gaza border on Wednesday, August 20.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Light trails made by rockets fired from the Gaza Strip stand out against the night sky on Tuesday, August 19. Despite efforts to come to a peaceful agreement, Gaza militants launched rockets into Israel on Tuesday, and Israel responded with its own rockets.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An injured Palestinian man is helped into the Shifa hospital in Gaza City on August 19.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Police examine the remains of a rocket launched from Gaza that landed near the kibbutz of Yad Mordechay on August 19.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City on August 19.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Islam El Masri begins to sort through the rubble of her destroyed home in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, on Thursday, August 14.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israelis gather in Tel Aviv during a protest August 14 calling on the government and the army to end Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza once and for all.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke rises in Gaza City after an airstrike on Saturday, August 9.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers walk past a Merkava tank as they patrol a field near Israel's border with Gaza on August 9.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian boy salvages family belongings from the rubble of a four-story building after an airstrike in Gaza City on Friday, August 8.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israelis flee after a rocket fired from Gaza hit the residential neighborhood of Sderot, Israel, on August 8.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian man looks out over destruction in the al-Tufah neighborhood of Gaza City on Wednesday, August 6.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Displaced Palestinians carry their belongings as they leave a United Nations school in Beit Lahiya, Gaza, to return to their homes Tuesday, August 5.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – The body of Avrohom Wallis is carried during his funeral in Jerusalem on Monday, August 4. Wallis was killed in what Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld called a "terror attack," when a man drove an earthmover into a bus in Jerusalem.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers fire a mortar shell toward Gaza from the Israeli side of the border on August 4.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians remove rubble from a house hit by an airstrike in the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on August 4.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli drone circles over Gaza City on Sunday, August 3.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian man sits in a hospital in Rafah, Gaza, on August 3.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An honor guard caries the coffin of Israeli Lt. Hadar Goldin during his funeral in Kfar-saba, Israel, on August 3. Goldin was thought to have been captured during fighting in Gaza but was later declared killed in action by the Israel Defense Forces.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian boy looks for belongings after an airstrike in Rafah on Saturday, August 2.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers walk to their tank at a staging area near the border with Gaza on August 2.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A young Palestinian carries damaged copies of the Quran from the rubble of the Imam Al Shafaey mosque in Gaza City on August 2.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians displaced from their houses return to check their homes in Gaza City on Friday, August 1.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli soldier carries a shell as he prepares a tank along the Israel-Gaza border on Thursday, July 31. Israel called up 16,000 additional reservists, bolstering forces for its fight against Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke rises from a building after an airstrike in Rafah on July 31.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – The parents and a sister of Israeli soldier Guy Algranati mourn during his funeral in Tel Aviv on July 31.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – U.N. workers remove a donkey injured at a U.N.-run school in Gaza on Wednesday, July 30.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians walk under the collapsed minaret of a destroyed mosque in Gaza City on July 30.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians gather leaflets that fell from an Israeli plane on July 30. The leaflets warned residents of airstrikes in Gaza City.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israelis take cover from a Palestinian rocket attack from Gaza during the funeral of Israeli soldier Meidan Maymon Biton, which was held at a cemetery in Netivot, Israel, on Tuesday, July 29.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke and fire rise above Gaza City after an Israeli airstrike on July 29.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli soldier prays on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza on July 29 as smoke billows from the only power plant supplying electricity to Gaza.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Near the rubble of their home in Rafah, Palestinian men mourn July 29 for people killed during an airstrike.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian man places a portrait of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya on the rubble of Haniya's Gaza City home July 29 after it was hit by an overnight airstrike.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Flares from Israeli forces light up the night sky of Gaza City on July 29.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of 2nd Lt. Roy Peles, an infantry officer who was killed in combat, during his funeral in Tel Aviv on Sunday, July 27.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – During a 12-hour cease-fire in Gaza City's Shijaiyah neighborhood on Saturday, July 26, a Palestinian man sits atop a car filled with belongings that were salvaged from a destroyed home.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers watch a bomb explode along the border with Gaza before the 12-hour cease-fire on July 26.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – As her brother-in-law Mazen Keferna weeps on the ground, Manal Keferna cries upon discovering her family home destroyed by airstrikes in Beit Hanoun on July 26.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians dig a body out of the rubble of a destroyed house in Gaza during the cease-fire on July 26.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli soldier mourns at the grave of reserve Master Sgt. Yair Ashkenazy during his funeral at the military cemetery in Rehovot, Israel, on Friday, July 25. Ashkenazy was killed during operations in northern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces reported.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian man cries after bringing a child to the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya on Thursday, July 24. The child was wounded in a strike on a school that was serving as a shelter for families in Gaza. It's unclear who was behind the strike. The Israeli military said it was "reviewing" the incident, telling CNN that a rocket fired from Gaza could have been responsible.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers carry a wounded soldier to a helicopter near the Israel-Gaza border on July 24.

Israel-Gaza crisis – A trail of blood is seen in the courtyard of the school that was hit July 24 in the Beit Hanoun district of Gaza.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli tank fires toward Gaza from a position near Israel's border on July 24.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A photograph tweeted by astronaut Alexander Gerst on Wednesday, July 23, shows major cities of Israel and Gaza. Gerst said in his tweet: "My saddest photo yet. From #ISS we can actually see explosions and rockets flying over #Gaza & #Israel."

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A woman in Philadelphia passes by a departure board that shows US Airways Flight 796, scheduled to fly to Tel Aviv, has been canceled on Tuesday, July 22. The Federal Aviation Administration told U.S. airlines they were temporarily prohibited from flying to the Tel Aviv airport after a Hamas rocket exploded nearby.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Smoke and fire from the explosion of an Israeli strike rise over Gaza City on July 22.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A relative of Israeli soldier Jordan Ben-Simon mourns over his coffin during his funeral in Ashkelon, Israel, on July 22.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians inspect destroyed buildings and collect usable items after an Israeli air assault on July 22.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers weep at the grave of Israeli Sgt. Adar Barsano during his funeral Sunday, July 20, in Nahariya, Israel.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinian medics carry a body in Gaza's Shaja'ia district on July 20.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers give medical care to soldiers who were wounded during an offensive in Gaza on July 20.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian boy injured during an Israeli airstrike is taken to the hospital by his father in Gaza City on July 20.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Palestinians flee their homes as Israeli troops focus their firepower on the Gaza town of Shaja'ia on Sunday, July 20. The shelling and bombing killed at least 60 people and wounded 300, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Israel-Gaza crisis – Israeli soldiers patrol near the Israel-Gaza border on July 18.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A relative mourns July 18 during the funeral of Rani Abu Tawila, a Palestinian who was killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza City.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian demonstrator, protesting Israel's military operation in Gaza, runs through smoke July 18 during clashes with Israeli soldiers at the entrance of the Ofer prison in the West Bank village of Betunia.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – This image, made from video shot through a night-vision scope, was released by the Israeli military on July 18. It shows troops moving through a wall opening during the early hours of the ground offensive in Gaza.

Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli tank fires a shell into Gaza on July 18.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – A Palestinian carries a gas cylinder salvaged from the rubble of an apartment building after it was hit by Israeli fire on July 18.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – An Israeli reservist prays July 18 near the Gaza border by Sderot, Israel.

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Israel-Gaza crisis – Flare smoke rises into the Gaza City sky on Thursday, July 17.

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Story highlights

Israel and Hamas agree to a 12-hour cease-fire in Gaza starting Saturday morning

It's intended to be used for moving in medical supplies and taking out injured people

Americans are taking the lead on a text in consultation with Egyptians, sources say

Israel and Hamas agreed to a 12-hour cease-fire starting Saturday morning, temporarily halting more than two weeks of bloodshed that has claimed more than 900 mostly civilian lives.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Secretary of State John Kerry that Israel would agree to the truce, according to a U.S. official traveling with Kerry. And Palestinian parliament member Mustafa Barghouti said Hamas will comply.

"Of course, they will," Barghouti told CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" Friday. "Not only Hamas but all Palestinians."

Both Barghouti and the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Hamas was willing to sign on to a proposed seven-day cease-fire as well.

Kerry said Friday that Netanyahu was willing to go along with a temporary truce "as a good-faith down payment to move forward."

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Early Saturday, Israel Defense Forces warned in a statement that it will respond if militants attack its personnel or fire at Israeli civilians during the cease-fire that began at 8 a.m. local time (1 a.m. ET) Saturday. . During the cease-fire, the IDF will continue to carry out operations to "locate and neutralize" tunnels in Gaza, the statement said.

The Israeli Cabinet had earlier rejected a proposed one-week humanitarian cease-fire, but Kerry said no final proposal was submitted to Israel for a vote.

"Let's make that clear," Kerry told reporters in Cairo. "There is always mischief from people who oppose certain things, and I consider this one of those mischievous things."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined Kerry in efforts to reach a deal.

He called for a 12-hour humanitarian cease-fire, with the hope that it can be extended to seven days.

"Surely now, the parties must realize it is time for them to act," Ban said.

"My hope is that the 12 hours will be extended, perhaps to 24, and people will draw from that the good will and effort to find a solution," said Kerry, adding that he will travel to Paris on Saturday and continue to push for a deal.

The United States and Egypt were thought Friday to be moving closer to an agreement with Israel and the Palestinians on a one-week truce, starting Sunday.